The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for covering a pipeline. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for covering a pipeline where conventional trenching and backfilling is uneconomical or difficult.
In conventional techniques for laying a pipeline it is customary to dig a trench, lay the line in the trench, and cover the line by backfilling with the fill material removed from the trench or a solid fill material from another source. In some instances, however, the terrain traversed by the pipeline, the environment in which the line is laid and/or the hardness of the earth in which the line is to be laid, make it difficult or uneconomical to utilize conventional trenching and filling techniques. However, in many cases, governmental regulations require that pipelines be covered by a minimum thickness of material irrespective of the conditions and the problems encountered. In some cases, because of environmental conditions, particularly where it is difficult to place the line in a trench or a trench of the desired depth, the fill material must be mounded over the line. In such cases, erosional forces either tend to uncover the line, at least in some areas, and in some cases even move the line itself from its original location. For example, in some instances, where a line is laid on the bottom of a body of water both of these problems can be encountered. In one instance, where particular soil conditions at the bottom of the body of water prevented proper trenching, government regulations required that the line be covered and, as a result, the line was temporarily covered with sandbags. In this particular instance the anchor of a vessel was at one time inadvertently dragged across the line, causing a break therein, and it was also discovered that the line had moved from its original location at certain locations due to wave action.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for covering a pipeline.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for continuously covering a pipeline.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for covering a pipeline where conventional trenching and filling operations cannot be utilized.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for covering a pipeline where conventional trenching and filling operations cannot be carried out, which method can be carried out continuously.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for covering a pipeline laid at the bottom of a body of water.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for continuously forming a profiled cover over a pipeline which is at least partially above the surface of the earth.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for at least temporarily preventing erosion of a loose fill covering a pipeline.
Another and further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for at least temporarily preventing the erosion of a loose fill covering from a pipeline which is at least partially above the surface of the earth.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.